Online petitions want new Alberta MLA removed over Facebook photos

CALGARY – Three online petitions want a newly elected NDP MLA to be removed from office, saying some of her Facebook photos show that she is unfit for office.

Deborah Drever was elected Tuesday in the provincial riding of Calgary Bow.

Three Facebook photos of Drever, a 27-year-old sociology student at Mount Royal University, are what the petitions are upset about.

One shows Drever in front of a T-shirt with a marijuana leaf on it, another is of a hand giving the middle finger in front of a Canadian flag, and the other is her in a one-piece bathing suit.

Drever said in a statement that she wouldn’t “let these partisan smears distract from my focus on the things that matter to people in Calgary Bow, including needed investments in education and health care.”

Incoming premier Rachel Notley says she doesn’t see Drever’s Facebook photos as a big problem for the NDP.

“I think transition and the challenges that come with transition are what happens when governments change, which is something that happens in normal, healthy democracies,” Notley said.

“I know that we have some very good people in the public service … I’m going to work very closely with them to make sure that the government can do the job it needs to do, and we’re able to make that transition smoothly and respectfully of the many people that are committed simply to providing good public service to the people of Alberta.”

University of Calgary professor Rebecca Sullivan specializes in feminist, media and cultural studies. She said the petitions suggesting she’s unfit for office are a type of harassment seen in higher levels against female politicians.

“The fact that they have found in the course of 26 years, three photos that some people might find objectionable and have decided that makes her unfit for public office? That is harassment,” said Sullivan.

“It’s harassment, it’s gendered, it’s gross.”

Tracy Watson, a public relations instructor at Bow Valley College, says Drever’s Facebook photos should have been monitored. Now that they’re out there, it’s important to the reputations of both the NDP and Drever to respond, she said.

Watson said it’s a good reminder to politicians as well as the public that thanks to social media, “our private life isn’t private anymore.”

One petition calling for Drever’s resignation says Drever is
“not qualified or conducting herself in a manor fit for government.”